hi folks,
i have just installed Fedora Core 1 on my Benq Joybook 8000 laptop which, unlike most other laptops, sports a 15 inch lcd monitor ( 15:10 screen aspect ratio). The graphics card is nVidia GeForce4 420 Go 32M, which is recognized by Fedora and installed properly.

During installation, Fedora detects an "unprobed monitor" but there were no other monitor types that I can choose from the list that suits my monitor resolution, which is 1280 x 854. The closest is 1280 x 960 under generic lcd. After the installation is complete, I tried to configure the screen resolution by accessing Display from the start menu. However, the options were limited and of course, 1280 x 854 wasn't one of them.

Some intensive googling brought up suggestions to tune the sync frequency range for the monitor (horizontal and vertical sync). Iunfortunately, I wasn't able to find this information in my laptop's specifications manual ( nor on the product's website). Besides, Fedora warns me of possible screen damage (during installation) if I set this information incorrectly. I am not sure...but somehow i feel this isn't the right way to tackle the problem too.....
I have installed RedHat Linux 9 before with the same problem. With Fedora, I thought this might be averted. Alas!

Can some venerable folk out there help me with this? A zillion thanks!

regards
bryan

ok well im using fedora and am still very much a newbie but is it possible to change the lines in /etc/X11/XF86Config to suit your resolution?

Just an idea, hopefully somebody who knows better can help you

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection

oops.... i forgot to mention this..... I did try to amend the XFree86 config file ( by inserting "1280 x 854" in the Modes line ) with a disastrous outcome - the GUI failed to load up at all when i reboot the PC.

There's another problem: I tried to use redhat-config-xfree86 command and it gave me the following output:

[root@localhost root]# redhat-config-xfree86
* ddcprobe returned bogus values:
ID: None
Name: None
HorizSync: None
VertSync: None

What does this mean?????

Anyway, thanks for your help, nexx_au. :_))))

My laptop also has 1280x854 resolution and here is my XF86Config. Look at the Modes section. I am running SuSE 9, I know Mandrake's config file will look a little different but I have had my laptop working on both. Also I am using the driver from nvidia not the default nv driver.

# /.../
# SaX generated XFree86 config file
# Created on: 2004-01-02T10:01:16-0600.
#
# Version: 4.7
# Contact: Marcus Schaefer <sax@suse.de>, 2002
#
# Automatically generated by [ISaX] (4.7)
# PLEASE DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE!
#

Section "Files"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/local"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/URW"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/PEX"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/latin2/misc:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/latin2/75dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/latin2/100dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/latin2/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/latin7/75dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/baekmuk:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/japanese:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/kwintv"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/truetype"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/uni:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/ucs/misc:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/ucs/75dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/ucs/100dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/hellas/misc:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/hellas/75dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/hellas/100dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/hellas/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/sgi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/xtest"
InputDevices "/dev/ttyS0"
InputDevices "/dev/ttyS1"
InputDevices "/dev/ttyS2"
InputDevices "/dev/ttyS3"
InputDevices "/dev/ttyS4"
InputDevices "/dev/ttyS5"
InputDevices "/dev/ttyS6"
InputDevices "/dev/ttyS7"
InputDevices "/dev/ttyS8"
InputDevices "/dev/psaux"
InputDevices "/dev/logibm"
InputDevices "/dev/sunmouse"
InputDevices "/dev/atibm"
InputDevices "/dev/amigamouse"
InputDevices "/dev/atarimouse"
InputDevices "/dev/inportbm"
InputDevices "/dev/gpmdata"
InputDevices "/dev/mouse"
InputDevices "/dev/usbmouse"
InputDevices "/dev/adbmouse"
InputDevices "/dev/input/mice"
InputDevices "/dev/input/event0"
InputDevices "/dev/pointer0"
InputDevices "/dev/pointer1"
InputDevices "/dev/pointer2"
InputDevices "/dev/pointer3"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AllowMouseOpenFail"
Option "RandR" "on"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "glx"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "type1"
Load "dbe"
Load "v4l"
Load "speedo"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "Keyboard"
Identifier "Keyboard[0]"
Option "Protocol" "Standard"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
EndSection


Section "InputDevice"
Driver "mouse"
Identifier "Mouse[1]"
Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "on"
Option "Name" "Autodetection"
Option "Protocol" "PS/2"
Option "Vendor" "Sysp"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "mouse"
Identifier "Mouse[3]"
Option "Device" "/dev/pointer0"
Option "Name" "Autodetection"
Option "Protocol" "imps/2"
Option "Vendor" "Sysp"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection


Section "Monitor"
Option "CalcAlgorithm" "CheckDesktopGeometry"
DisplaySize 320 240
HorizSync 30-82
Identifier "Monitor[0]"
ModelName "1280X1024@60HZ"
Option "DPMS"
VendorName "--> LCD"
VertRefresh 40-60
UseModes "Modes[0]"
EndSection


Section "Modes"
Identifier "Modes[0]"
Modeline "1280x854" 85.26 1280 1296 1552 1792 854 854 861 892
EndSection


Section "Screen"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1280x854"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x854"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 32
Modes "1280x854"
EndSubSection
Device "Device[0]"
Identifier "Screen[0]"
Monitor "Monitor[0]"
EndSection


Section "Device"
BoardName "GeForce4 420 Go 32M"
BusID "1:0:0"
Driver "nvidia"
Identifier "Device[0]"
Option "NoLogo" "true"
Screen 0
Option "Rotate" "off"
VendorName "NVidia"
EndSection


Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout[all]"
InputDevice "Keyboard[0]" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse[1]" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Mouse[3]" "SendCoreEvents"
Option "Clone" "off"
Option "Xinerama" "off"
Screen "Screen[0]"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Group "video"
Mode 0660
EndSection